Not Another IQ Thread...

Post Reply New Topic

But I do have some questions. It is my understanding that autistics have a large gap between scores but I'm a bit confused by mine. Is this necessary/obligatory or pretty much always present in autistics?

Verbal: 102
Perceptual: 100
Working Memory: 88
Processing Speed: 91

Block Design: 9
Similarities: 11
Digit Span: 8
Picture Concepts: 7
Coding: 8
Vocabulary: 12
Letter-Number Sequence: 8
Matrix Reasoning 14
Comprehension: 9
Symbol Search: 9

(scaled scores)

Isn't matrix reasoning picture patterns? Why would I score so high on that but score poor in comparison with picture concepts and block design? I'm wondering if anyone can give me insight on how this relates to AS if at all, or if this is a pretty normal IQ result.

I have no idea if all-over-the-place scores is an autistic thing or not, but I have a similar thing going on. Like you, my verbal IQ is my highest score - I've heard that's really common for people with Asperger's. Also, like you, my working memory and processing speed are crap compared to my other "IQ's": my verbal, etc. scores are in the mid-130's, whereas those two are approximately/ slightly below 100. This is really interesting - with you and me, at least, there does seem to be a trend...

Pretty similar to mine actually..

COMPOSITE SCORES

Verbal Comprehension: 122
Perceptual Reasoning: 117
Working Memory: 86
Processing Speed: 92


SCALED SCORES

Perceptual Reasoning:
Block Design: 15
Visual Puzzles 13
Matrix Reasoning: 13

Verbal comprehension:
Similarities: 15
Vocabulary: 13
Information: 14

Working Memory:
Digit Span: 8
Arithmetic: 7

Processing Speed:
Symbol Search: 11
Coding: 6


cant really give any insights as to whether this is autism related or not however.

What quiz is this? I'd like to take it.

Yes, it is strange that a verbal IQ would be the highest for someone on the spectrum, but no two autistics are the same, I guess...
My general IQ is pretty depressing, actually, if you count the BBC test the nation quiz as official. I did it twice and got 85 and 72. I was really shocked, as I have always been right up top in class, and find school work a walk in the park most of the time.

My son's verbal scores were below average (He was talking only at the barest minimum at the time) and his performance scores

were well above average. Still, they diagnosed him with Asperger's as he clearly had good receptive language skills. By that I

mean if you asked him to pick up something he knew what you wanted and did so. It balanced out to an average of 100, but he is

clearly more intelligent than that. He is very verbal now (at home only though) and his teachers keep telling me how smart he is

and they wish he'd speak up more in class. My mother told me that the elementary school principal told her that my scores were

so bad at my preschool placement test that I was almost designated as borderline MR if not for my drawing skills. I remember

taking the test and I remember looking out the window a lot. I was placed in a slower moving class until the

teacher and my mother convinced them to retest me, where they found I was reading five grade levels ahead.

this is just the standard Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th edition (WAIS-IV)

Actually, it's pretty common among Aspies. Less with other kinds of Autism.

It looks like Matrix Reasoning is about problem solving/reasoning and Block Design and Picture Completion are about perception/sensory processing. So once the data is in the brain it gets processed well, but getting it in may be difficult.

And scatter in sub-test scores is characteristic of ASC's, and a verbal vs. performance IQ gap is not uncommon. IIRC I had a gap of 35, which was considered "very significant" in the write-up.

Lots of autistics do better on matrix reasoning, especially classic autistics (speech delay tends to give you lower Verbal, and Matrix reasoning is a performance subtest that doesn't seem to depend much on words).

buryuntime--your IQ scores show that your working memory and processing speed are lower than your verbal and perceptual scores; so that means that, if you do other things about the same way as you did the tasks on that test, you probably have a tendency to do things more slowly than other people, but with the same kind of quality. Giving yourself extra time to complete homework and such might allow you to take better advantage of your abilities. Also, your working memory lags behind your other scores somewhat; so that means you have a somewhat more difficult time holding things in your memory while you work on them. Take advantage of methods that allow you to rely less on your working memory and more on your other skills. Your matrix reasoning score suggests you are decent with patterns; and you seem to have a reasonably good vocabulary as well. Taking notes and writing down every step of a problem as you do it might benefit you. You could also try making charts, graphs, and tables to visually organize information while learning. None of those traits are out of the average range; but they might be different enough to affect how you think and allow you to adjust your study strategy to take advantage.

Remember also that an IQ score, whatever they tell you, does not measure general intelligence; it simply measures your ability to do the tasks on the IQ test.

No, not all autistics have large subscore gaps. Many do; and if you do, it's a sign that they should consider autism; but it's not required for nor diagnostic of autism.

Your own scores seem fairly normal overall. The only things which i'd say are extremely common among those with AS are your index scores on working memory and processing speed. People with AS tend to have some problems with one or both. I myself recently scored 86 on processing speed, but my working memory score was 111. My working memory score has always been at least in the high-average range, but processing speed has always been a weakness for me.

Your score on block design also MIGHT represent a slight weakness in the skills block design supposedly measures. Block design is usually one of the lowest subtest scores for those with NLD, but I don't know for certain if the same holds true for AS. Was this the WAIS-IV you took or an earlier version? I noticed you either didn't take or didn't include your scores on visual puzzles if in this was a WAIS-IV. Visual Puzzles is a new performance subtest (and an untimed one) on the this latest version of WAIS. It has a pretty high reliabilty coefficient and it would've been interesting to see how you did on that. I scored pretty low (3) on the visual puzzles test. In fact, it was my lowest subtest score by far.

The Object Assembly subtest is no longer used on the new edition of WAIS. So either you didn't include your scores on that one or you didn't take it. Along with block design, that WAS usually the lowest subtest score for those with NLD and that certainly reigned true for me. My scores on the Object Assembly subtest were usually even lower than my scores on block design. My Block Design subtest scores are ALWAYS (i've taken six WAIS tests in my life) either 6 or 7, which is in the low average range. They got rid of the Object Assembly subtest likely because it had the lowest reliabilty coefficient of all the subtests (around .70 I think) on WAIS.


The WAIS Matrix Reasoning subtest was supposedly inspired by the Raven's Progressive Matrices IQ tests. AFAIK...MR has a very high reliability coefficient and yes, it is a pattern recognition test or a test of non-verbal reasoning ability. You probably did better on Matrix Reasoning than you did on Block Design and Picture Completion (I don't remember if picture completion is timed or if it has a motor componant...haven't taken that subtest for awhile) because Block Design has a motor componant and it is timed. Since it seems like you might be a little weak in processing speed, that could reduce your performance on block design. I don't know if you have any problems with psychomotor skills though based upon what you wrote here.


My own scores on Matrix Reasoning have been all over the place. I've scored a 14 on it just like you (which is in the 91st percentile by the way) and as low as low average. My performance subtest scores in general are always much lower than my verbal subtest scores. Still....I have scored in the "superior" range on Matrix Reasoning and in the average-above range on other performance subtests aside from block design, object assembly and visual puzzles.

Since the information, vocabulary and similarities subtest scores on verbal are ALWAYS my highest subtest scores on WAIS....I exhibit a "classic" NLD/NVLD pattern. The tiny and probably, meaningless, discrepancy you exhibit between the verbal and performance subtests is nothing compared to what mine is. For example....my Verbal Comprehension Index score on the latest WAIS I took in June was 136 (superior or very superior range...don't recall which) while my Perceptual-Organizational index score was the lowest it's ever been at 79 (which is the borderline range...nine points away from what is considered the MR range). My VIQ on the WAIS I took in 2006 was 155 (very superior) and my PIQ was 111 (high average) and both scores yielded the highest full scale IQ score i've ever obtained at 143 (very superior).

Either way....that's a 57 and a 44 point discrepancy between verbal and performance respectively and while such a huge discrepancy is rare, it is fairly common among those with NLD/AS.


Overall.....i'd say your scores aren't unusual at all for those with AS. I believe those with AS are often at least a bit weaker on the performance subtests than the verbal ones. Comprehension and Arithmetic are often a RELATIVE weakness among the verbal subtests for those with NLD. While I do pretty good on comprehension usually, my scores on arithmetic are usually in the average-high average range which is a weakness COMPARED to my very high scores on information, vocabulary and similarities.


Nothing is necessary/obligatory when it comes people on the spectrum and IQ tests. There are some patterns that are pretty common though. For those with AS specifically, the pattern of better performance on the verbal subtests as opposed to the performance subtests is pretty common, though i've seen the diametric opposite even when it comes to those dx-ed with AS. I think higher performance scores are common among those with classic autism, maybe including those with HFA.

In general.....i'd say countless people with AS exhibit a pattern of scores (especially your scores on processing speed and working memory) very similar to your own. BTW....your verbal IQ scores might be higher in the future depending upon what, if any, further education you're pursuing, how much you read, etc....That happened to me....my verbal IQ was 104 on the test I took in 1993 and after attending two years of college (and reading alot more outside of what was required in my college coursework) it was 125 in 1998. I don't know if my education had anything to do with that for sure though. I took an IQ test (though I don't remember if it was a WAIS) in 9th grade and my FSIQ was 120. I'm pretty sure that score wasn't due to an exceptionally high performance IQ score since my PIQ has never been beyond the high average range on any of the other six IQ tests i've had. Thus...i'm assuming my verbal score was pretty high on that one as well.


Anyway....don't be surprised if your scores fluctuate considerably from test to test provided you ever take another IQ test. IQ tests are relatively worthless anyway when it comes to the reliable in the extremes. For example....if someone consistently scores in the 50's on a standardized test like WAIS, it's likely their overall mental abilities are in the MR range. The same holds true in reverse if someone consistently scores in very superior range on tests like WAIS. Still....there are many people ( and many on the spectrum fall into this category) who do very poorly on IQ tests for countless reasons which have nothing to do with MR. Thus...IQ tests aren't even always reliable in determining who is MR and who is not. They can be useful in determining things like NLD/AS though, especially when you look specifically at the pattern of subtest scores that people with these disorders often exhibit.

It is not strange at all actually. In fact..while i've heard conflicting statistics about this....a large percentage of those with AS exhibit significantly higher verbal scores as opposed to performance ones. The reverse is probably true with those on the spectrum who have language delays and so forth, but many with AS do perform much better on the verbal tests. This is one reason why AS and NVLD may be the same disorder with a common etiology.

I thing that can be interesting - a study made in 1979 comparing (between other things) the structure of IQ of autistic (HFA), "schizoid" (probably some will be AS by modern standards) and "normal" children:


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... x/abstract

[you will not find this in the link, only the abstract]

Autistic..........................."schizoid"........normal

Full IQ: 89.5........................86.3............91.4

Verbal IQ: 89.4...................86.5.........93.4

Comprehension: 5.75.....8.50.........9.13
Arithmetic: 7.88................6.13.........8.13
Vocabulary: 8.25.............9.50..........9.63
Information: 8.75............7.00.........8.63
Digit Span: 9.38...........6.75........10.13
Similarities: 9.50..........6.38..........8.25

Performance IQ: 93.5...89.3........91.9

Coding: 7.13................8.50..........8.38
Pict. Arr.: 7.75..............6.75..........8.75
Obj. Assem..: 9.00.....9.25..........9.00
Picture Completion: 10.00....................8.75...............8.50
Block Design: 10.63....8.25.........8.63

[I can't understand how the FIQ of "schizoids" and "normals" could be lower than both their VIQ and PIQ, but...]